The new chief executive of Fortis on Monday defended as ”absolutely necessary” the decision by three European governments to part-nationalise the Belgo-Dutch banking and insurance group with an €11.2bn ($16bn, £9bn) capital injection.

Filip Dierckx, who took over as chief executive on Friday evening, said the move was vital to restore confidence in Fortis after the group suffered a crisis of confidence that risked spreading to depositors.